Arizona Check-in

 

I had a week back in DC after my trip to Idaho, but it was only a couple of weeks before I was jetting off again to the American West, this time to Arizona. Mid-August is the time for the annual Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, and after missing it last year I was excited to be back once again to represent the Birding Co-op, the organization I'm on the board of. Embarrassingly, I was only able to be there for a day this time, as I couldn't be gone from DC for too long and I wanted to save time for the road trip down to Mexico that was the other purpose of this trip. Still a full day meant time for birding in the morning and volunteering at the festival in the afternoon, as well as (most importantly) seeing lots of good birding friends I hadn't seen in years.

Flying coast to coast is never a particularly enjoyable affair, and in all honesty I find airlines in the US at least as miserable to fly with as airlines in Southeast Asia. In the run-up to this trip, however, I made the fortuitous realization that I actually hadn't redeemed any of the rewards attached to my airline credit card, meaning I had a mountain of free miles accumulated. This was enough for about a dozen free flights, and on a whim I used up a chunk of it to upgrade myself to first class seats- all for about $11! That made the flying experience much nicer than it would have been otherwise, and I found myself surprisingly well-rested and comfortable by the time I arrived in Tucson late in the evening. 

I was sharing an AirBnb in Tucson with a number of other Birding Co-op folks, some of whom were guiding trips the following morning but some of whom, thankfully, were free to do a morning of birding.  It ended up being me along with birding friends Mollee, Holly and Josh who headed to the Huachuca Mountains southeast of Tucson to look for some target birds that we were still missing. The other three had actually been the previous day but Mollee and I both had a few possible lifers in the Huachucas so Josh and Holly were nice enough to go back there along with us. 

We left early the next morning to head to the Huachucas, making the hour-long drive south until we got to one of the many access roads heading up into the mountains. We only made it as far as the desert foothill scrub before we stopped for the first bit of birding, hoping to run into a Montezuma Quail or two. We didn't see any zoomies, but I did spot a group of Red-tailed Hawks harassing a Golden Eagle far above us, which was fun to watch. There were many Turkey Vultures circling above us menacingly, and in the scrubby trees was a small group of Mexican Jays and a very cooperative Rufous-crowned Sparrow. None of these were lifers but they were certainly nice additions to my burgeoning year list.

Red-tailed Hawk harassing a Golden Eagle

Turkey Vulture

Juvenile Mexican Jay

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Black Phoebe

Gold-costa Skipper

The scrub in the Huachuca foothills

The first proper destination of the morning was the Beatty's Guest Ranch, a little B&B a bit further up in the mountains that happens to have an extremely active hummingbird feeding station. The desert birds are great, but what really makes Southeast Arizona stand out as a birding destination is that it's essentially the northernmost extension of the Mexican Plateau. The isolated fault-block mountains like the Huachucas have more rainfall than the desert below, turning them into "sky islands" of forest full of birds that are otherwise only found south of the border. Among the most notable of these are the hummingbirds- Arizona has 12 species of regularly-occurring hummingbirds, far more than anywhere else in the US, and a god number more that vagrate northwards. The biggest target here was White-eared Hummingbird, the least common of the regular hummingbirds but one that shows up regularly at this feeder. I had dipped on this on my previous visit to Arizona but Josh, Holly and Mollee had managed to see it the previous day so I was hopeful that the second try would work out. 

There was still a good bit of morning activity when we arrived by the ranch, with Mexican Jays and Lesser Goldfinches all around and even a Painted Whitestart singing deep in the woods. The hummingbird feeding station was a blur of activity, with dozens of hummingbirds of at least 8 different species buzzing all around- Anna's Hummingbirds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Rivoli's Hummingbirds, Calliope Hummingbirds, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Violet-crowned Hummingbirds, and at long last the single, gorgeous male White-eared Hummingbird. That last one was a welcome lifer for me, and our one target bird for that spot.

Lesser Goldfinch

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird

White-eared Hummingbird

Sonoran Spotted Whiptail

Two-tailed Swallowtail

Common Thread-waisted Wasp

With the hummingbird in the bag, we headed to Ramsey Canyon, a bit south of Beatty's and home to another set of feeders and a nature-filled trail we hoped might have some lifers or at least some good birds. Along the way we happened upon a pair of beautiful Phainopeplas in the top of a tree, one of my favorite US birds. The parking area and feeders were surprisingly birdy even this far into the day, with many Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, Anna's, and Rivoli's Hummingbirds buzzing around the feeder setup along with White-breasted Nuthatches, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, and Black-headed Grosbeaks. Acorn Woodpeckers were flying back and forth over the parking lot, a good reminder that they are highly underrated birds in terms of looks, personality, behavior, and just overall weirdness.

Phainopepla

Acorn Woodpecker

Ravioli Hummingbird

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Queen Butterfly

The trail going up Ramsey Canyon was full of birds as well, and we ran into a great mixed flock with Hutton's Vireos, Brown Creepers, Bridled Titmice, and Townsend's Warblers. Western Wood-Pewees were calling throughout, and one of them looked very much like a Greater Pewee when we reviewed our photos, but annoyingly enough turned out to be just another Western. The highlight, however, was a giant patch of fruiting Wilcox's Barberry bushes that were home to a group of five Elegant Trogons! We spent almost an hour watching the trogons fly around near the trail, generally shy but occasionally perching near enough for some decent pictures. It's honestly still a bit weird to me that there are trogons resident to the USA- yet another example of sky island magic. As we were watching them Josh spotted an Arizona Woodpecker feeding unobtrusively in the sycamore above us, a long-overdue lifer for me. Many Black-headed Grosbeaks were also busily feeding in the barberry bushes, allowing for by far my best pictures of this species.

Hutton's Vireo

Brown Creeper

Western Wood-Pewee pretending to be a Greater Pewee

Western Wood-Pewee

Immature Elegant Trogon

Adult Elegant Trogon

Black-headed Grosbeak

Arizona Woodpecker

Arizona Sister, one of my absolute favorite butterflies

Bordered Patch

Echo Azure

Reddish Potato Beetle

There were more good birds on the way back, with one highlight being a Violet-crowned Hummingbird I found sitting on a nest right above the trail! We also spotted a Berylline Hummingbird, a rarity this time of year, feeding next to the trail and had a female Summer Tanager feeding in the dry creekbed. Back at the feeders I got a picture of a beautiful male Calliope Hummingbird, which was actually a photo-lifer for me as I had only recently gotten it as a lifer in Idaho. We took the scenic route back to Tucson through some of the grasslands north of the Huachucas- great for dramatic landscapes, a very impressive monsoon cloudburst, and roadside looks at the recently-split Chihuahuan Meadowlark. 

Nesting Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Another Ravioli Hummingbird

Summer Tanager

Berylline Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Sonoran Desert scenery

That afternoon I spent manning the booth at the birding festival, and that night was a chance to have excellent Mexican food with good birding friends- just as much of a reason for me to come back to Arizona as the birds were. The following morning three of us ventured into Mexico to start a week-long road trip, but that will be for the next blog.